Skirting The Issues 7.21.04
By Melissa Garcia


So it seems like we are officially on track for the 2004 Presidential election. Candidate bashing television ads, books, movies, and speeches are in full bloom this season, leaving voters anxious to see what candidate debates have in store for us later this year. We’ve already been introduced to the political, Bush-bashing “art” of Michael Moore and the ranting of Whoopi Goldberg, but so far there have been no extreme bashes against Kerry in the news.

Evidently, the main excitement right now revolves around Bush vs… well, himself. Kerry and Edwards have joined forces to rally together all of the Anti-Bush voters in the nation, which is proving to be considerable force in the political race. Instead of backing a candidate, many voters are simply rejecting an opponent, being forced to choose Kerry almost as a last resort. According to polls from the Washington Post, over half of those supporting Kerry are doing so in protest of Bush, not because they are attracted to Kerry as a presidential candidate. Whereas nine out of ten Bush supporters strongly support him as a President. This can prove to be very problematic in the future. After all, we as citizens are supposed to vote for the person we want to represent us, and if we don’t truly respect and believe in the candidate we select, who know what we’ll be getting in the White House.

And of course, this is where the John-John duo come together with their “learn-to-love-us” campaign in an effort to make the American people feel comfortable and secure in electing two liberals to run the country. It’s almost as if the Democratic party decided that if the American people don’t want Bush, they should at least have a safe out. Of course, this is totally disregarding the sneaky appearance of 70 year-old Ralph Nader on the presidential ballot, who is logically not a serious contender for the election, but critical in that Democrats feel he can pull votes away from Kerry and benefit the Bush campaign. So, yes, Nader is dangerous… dangerous in the sense that he may act as a none of the above vote for those voters who are Anti-Bush and not Pro-Kerry. For Bush supporters, that’s good news, seeing as how in the end tally, a vote for Ralph Nader is essentially a vote for George Bush. But is it good for the election process? Lord help us if our futures president is a product of eenie meenie minie moe.

Despite uncertainty in candidate choice that dates all the way back to the Iowa Convention, parties continue to take action. While conservatives continually remind the country that the Johns are the first and fourth most liberal voting Senators and both extremely wealthy mean, Edwards and Kerry took to front porch to give their campaign a more personal approach, basically saying, “Look at our humble roots! Look how we talk to the people! We’re just like you…only with stockpiles of money in the bank!”

Edwards says, "The most important thing you can do as a political leader is not to talk, but to listen." What more could a person want? Sitting on the front porch steps with a would-be president telling him about all of your problems and what you think needs to be done about them. Finally there is someone who really cares about what’s going on with real American citizens. Never mind that there are hundreds of media cameras and reporters around us and that his audiences are all hand picked, and that police prevent other member of the neighborhood from coming any closer.

Whether is seems genuine or not, who knows, it just might work. After all, William McKinley was the pioneer of front porch campaigning and eventually won the presidential election in 1896. Regardless, times have changed and so have people and their politics. In the end, it will definitely come down to more than an afternoon chat with the candidates. All we know is that the issues are locked and the campaign buses are loaded. Despite the options, voters across the nation are mulling over an important decision for the next four years and beyond: Do we want Bush or not? But really, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves much more?



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